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D. HALDEIVIAN.

Burglar Alarm.

N0.'-1 2,351. I 'Patgnted Feb; 6, 1855. r

N, PETERS. PhMbI-Mmfllvhir. Whhhlion. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL HALDEMAN, OF MORGANTGWN, VIRGINIA.

BURGLAR-ALARM.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 12,351 date c1 February 6, 1855.

To all whom it may concern:

, Be it known that I, DANIEL HALDEMAN, of Morgantown, in the county of Monongalia and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burglar- Alarms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part thereof, and which represents the alarm complete and placed in position to be let off by the opening of any ordinary door.

I am aware that several of these burglaralarms have been devised which are let off by opening a door to which, or against which, they are first fastened. But these consist of so many parts, and require such accuracy in arranging them properly to the door or floor, or both, as to make them inconvenient to carry in the pocket; besides, their expensive construction keeps them out of general use. I make no claim whatever to an alarm which must be fastened either to the door or floor, or that requires any special adjustment thereto. But the nature of my invention consists in so combining with the trigger lever, or dog which holds the hammer in cook, a hinged inclined lever, which is merely placed under the door, so that the act of opening the door confines or holds the alarm in its position, and releases the dog or lets down the hammer. I thus make a cheap contrivance, small, portable, and eflective, which may be merely laid on the floor, without any fastening whatever, and be in its proper position to be letoff, or picked up without any danger of exploding it by unloosing its fastenings.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation, in connection with the drawings.

The main portions of the alarm may be inclosed, between two metallic plates A, B, which are united to, or may be a part of a solid piece of metal 0, at one side thereof, large enough to be bored out, so as to form a chamber D (in dotted lines) therein of sufficient capacity to receive a charge of powder, or other explosive compound. a is a nipple set in the breech of the said chamber. A hammer cock E, having its fulcra pin at 6, projects out from between the casings, so that when released it will strike upon the nipple a. The main spring is represented in dotted lines 0, and is connected to the rear of the cock, beyond the fulcra b.

On the outside of the case A, is arranged a lever F, pivoted at e, and with a spring 27 underneath one of its ends, to keep that end raised up. At or near the other end of this lever F, is a dog 0, which whenthe hammer is raised up, takes into a notch in said hammer (there being an opening through the case A, for that purpose) and holds said hammer at full cock. To the rear end of the lever F, is hinged an inclined lever G, which when the alarm is to be carried in the pocket, is swung over andlies alongside of that F, so as. to make no undue projections from any part of the alarm, to annoy the carrier of it. The point a, where the levers F, G, are united, will when the alarm is lying fiat on the floor, be from one-half to three-quarters of an inch above the floor. The extreme point of the lever G, lies upon the floor, so that the inclination of the lever G, would be suflicient to prevent any ordinary door from passing over without touching it. If however the door should swing more than three-quarters of an inch above the floor, the instrument is readily adjusted to it, by such things as are ordinarily carried about the person of the user, as for instance a penknife, two or three pennies, a book or small block, or anything of the kind will suflice to raise the instrument high enough to meet the door. I have represented the extreme point of the lever G, as bent to catch into the floor, when the door is swung against. This however is not at all necessary, as the tendency of the opening door, is to hold it from slipping, and there is therefore no necessity of any fastenings whatever.

The operation is simple and as follows: The alarm being charged, capped, and cooked, the lever G is turned over as seen in the drawing, and its end slipped under the door. The opening of the door presses down the lever G, which carries down the end of the lever F, releases the catch or dog 0, from the hammer and the hammer is thrown by the main spring onto the cap and explodes the charge. I

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention I would state'that I do not claim the letting 05 of an alarm in the act of opening a door, nor do I claim an alarm which requires fastening of any kind, either to the door or floor to insure its going 01?, as

several of these are already known; but

lVhat I do claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

' Combining with the trigger, lever. or dog which holds the hammer at a cook, a hinged,

inclined lever G, the end of Which simply passes underneath the door, and requires no fastening, other than it receives by being held by the door itself as it is pushed open, 10 as described.

DANIEL HALDEMAN.

Witnesses:

A. B. STOUGHTON,

THOMAS H. UPPERMAN. 

